McCain U: Energy & Environment - Appetite for Destruction

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http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/analyzing_mccain.html George Bush cannot be the bar against which we measure John McCain, argued Navin Nayak of the League of Conservation Voters. Nayak provided McCain 101 for the final panel of the day on energy policy. The panel included Joseph Romm and Bracken Hendricks, both Senior Fellows at CAPAF, and Nayak, who emphasized that while McCains energy policies look good compared to President Bush, voters must look at McCains policies more broadly. Like Bush, Nayak said, McCain opposes renewable energy, as evidenced by his votes against a renewable electricity standard and tax credits for renewable energy. Nayak also criticized McCain for voting against increasing automobile fuel efficiency, his advisors ties to the oil and gas industries, and the fact that McCains plan to combat global warming only calls for 60 percent reductions in greenhouse gases by 2050. Romm criticized McCain for what he called a placebo energy policy, which would do nothing to resolve the energy crisis, but would still make people feel better. Similarly, Hendricks criticized McCain for supporting energy policies which even McCain acknowledged would only have a psychological effect. Attacking McCains support of a gas tax holiday, Romm said, the important thing to realize about the gas tax holiday is that its just a holiday for gas and oil companies. Romm also argued that allowing offshore drilling in sensitive costal areas, as McCain has proposed, would have no effect on oil prices. Romm also attacked McCains plan to offer $300 million to the inventor of cheaper, more efficient batteries that could make plug-in hybrids more efficient. It is completely pointless for the federal government to offer $300 milliontheres no way you could actually award this prize. Nobody invents anything that is much cheaper than existing technology today. That only occurs when you sell a million units a yearthis is a complete and utter gimmick, he said. Panelists criticized McCains plan to build more nuclear power plants for a number of reasons. Nayak pointed out that building nuclear plants is expensive, and that the electricity generated by such plants would also be expensive in the absence of government subsidies. Romm said that providing such subsidies to a mature technology like nuclear energy would be a poor choice, and instead suggested subsidies for alternatives like wind and solar power. He also noted the difficulties in disposing of the radioactive waste that is a byproduct of nuclear power. [McCain is] trying to simultaneously appeal to conservatives and moderates by adopting ambiguous and ultimately ineffective positions, said Romm.